James “Whitey” Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster who rampaged through the city’s underworld for decades before slipping away from authorities and eluding a worldwide manhunt for more than 16 years, was convicted in a sweeping federal racketeering indictment of charges that he killed 11 people. After 32 1/2 hours of deliberations over five days, the jury of four women and eight men returned to the courtroom in the afternoon with their verdict. They found Bulger guilty of 31 of the 32 counts he faced. He now faces the likelihood that he will die in prison.

Jurors in the racketeering trial of James “Whitey” Bulger were dismissed for the weekend to return Monday for a fifth day of deliberations. Earlier in the day, as jurors deliberated for the fourth day, a fight broke out over what to do with the $822,000 in cash found hidden inside Bulger’s California apartment in 2011.

US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper urged the jury to earnestly try to reach a verdict on each of the racketeering counts Bulger faces, putting pressure on the panel to make a decision on all of the allegations, including 19 murders. Casper had earlier told the jurors they could skip over any one of the 33 acts listed under Bulger’s racketeering charge if they could not reach a unanimous verdict, but she told them Thursday morning, at the request of prosecutors, that they should try.

Day 38

Aug. 7, 2013

Pat Greenhouse/Globe staff

Judge Denise J. Casper huddled with defense lawyers and prosecutors during a series of secret sidebars over two hours to address an unknown issue.

As jurors deliberated the fate of James “Whitey” Bulger for a second day, they asked the judge Wednesday if they must reach a unanimous verdict on 19 murders and 14 other criminal acts, raising the possibility that there are split opinions among the panel. US District Judge Denise J. Casper told jurors that they must unanimously agree on whether each of the 33 acts, which are listed under a single count of racketeering, are proven or unproven. But Casper huddled with defense lawyers and prosecutors during a series of secret sidebars over two hours to address an unknown issue. The judge appeared to resolve the issue as jurors continued to deliberate, but she offered no public explanation

Day 37

Aug. 6, 2013

Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff

Steve Davis, brother of the slain Debra Davis, held sketches of himself during the trial outside the courthouse in Boston.

Jurors overloaded with charts of Boston’s underworld hierarchy, gruesome crime scene photos, and stacks of FBI informant reports began deliberations in the sweeping federal racketeering case against James “Whitey” Bulger.The jury of four women and eight men spent 5 ½ hours sifting through evidence presented over the past eight weeks before adjourning for the day.

Day 36

Aug. 5, 2013

Illustration by Margaret Small.

“It’s not whether you like the witness; nobody likes these people,” Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak (left) said. “The government is buying the testimony of these witnesses,” said J.W. Carney Jr., one of Bulger’s lawyers.

After presenting 72 witnesses, lawyers summarized their cases with closing arguments before the jurors. Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak said prosecutors showed that James “Whitey’’ Bulger killed people and terrorized South Boston through extortion; Wyshak also acknowledged that some witnesses were unsavory characters. The defense team told jurors that the key witnesses against Bulger were liars who blamed him for their own crimes.

Notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger said today he would not take the stand at his racketeering and murder trial in US District Court in Boston, telling the judge that he felt the trial was a sham.
Bulger, who is accused of 19 murders during his terrifying reign in Boston’s underworld, told US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper that he wanted to testify, but because Casper would not allow him to claim that he was granted immunity by now-deceased federal prosecutor Jeremiah O’Sullivan, Bulger saw no reason to do so.
“I feel that I’ve been choked off from having an opportunity to give an adequate defense and explain about my conversation and agreement with Jeremiah O’Sullivan,’’ Bulger told Casper. “For my protection of his life, in return, he promised to give me immunity.’’
Casper interrupted him and reminded him that she had ruled he could not raise the immunity claim during the trial.

Bulger’s lawyers called several law enforcement officers in a bid to show that some of the witnesses in the case have given conflicting statements, questioning their credibility. Matthew Cronin, a former FBI agent, also testified that agents in the Boston FBI office in the 1970s and 1980s did not trust John J. Connolly Jr., Bulger’s handler. Cronin said that the FBI “dropped the ball” when the agency failed to protect informant Edward “Brian” Halloran, though he had warned that Halloran was in danger.

Cronin helped lead a six-year-long investigation into Mafia racketeering and money-laundering at Heller's Cafe in Chelsea, which resulted in the 1993 conviction of tavern owner Michael London. During London's trial, jurors listened to tape recordings, virtually all of them the result of two room bugs and two telephone bugs placed at Heller's Cafe in 1986. Many of the tapes contained apparent references to paying rent to Flemmi and Bulger.

Jurors heard from James Crawford, a former FBI agent, who said that Debra Davis’s mother suspected it was Bulger’s partner Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi who killed her daughter, Flemmi’s girlfriend, out of jealousy because she was leaving him. Flemmi testified earlier that Bulger killed Debra Davis. Also, former FBI agent Fred Davis testified that agents in Boston in the early 1980s were concerned that Bulger’s former handler John J. Connolly Jr. was stealing information from their files. Earlier Wednesday, Judge Casper rejected Bulger’s request to call one of his former associates, Patrick Nee, to the stand, after Nee indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper refused Tuesday to sequester jurors in the trial of James “Whitey” Bulger, saying from the bench that she was “not inclined to inconvenience these jurors.”
Casper said that jurors had not been warned that they could be sequestered when they were picked to serve seven weeks ago, and a sequestration order without notice could interfere with any plans they may have.

Profile

Denise Casper

Casper, a former federal prosecutor, is the first black woman to become a US District judge in Massachusetts. She served in the US attorney’s office from 1999 to 2005 and spent her last year there as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Casper was appoint­ed to the bench in December 2010 by President Obama. Casper was randomly selected to preside over the Bulger trial after Judge Richard G. Stearns was ordered removed from the case because of the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest. Stearns was a top-ranking prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in the 1980s during the same period of time that Bulger claims another federal prosecutor, Jeremiah T. O’Sullivan, granted him immunity for all of his crimes, including murder.

The prosecution wrapped up its case against the notorious alleged gangster by showing a jury the $822,000 in cash and 30 firearms the FBI allegedly found hidden inside the walls of his apartment in Santa Monica, Calif., after his arrest in 2011.

FBI Special Agent Scott Garriola was the final witness called by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office in the racketeering trial of the 83-year-old Bulger. The government rested its case shortly before noon. It had laid out a massive case against Bulger since the trial began June 12.

The former owner of the Triple O’s bar in Boston told a federal jury today that he put James “Whitey” Bulger on the payroll, even though the notorious gangster never did any work.
“He wasn’t a guy to fool with,” Kevin O’Neil, 64, said. When asked if he had considered telling Bulger no, he responded, “I didn’t think it was smart.”
O’Neil also said he acquired a liquor store in South Boston that Bulger had allegedly extorted from the owner and again put Bulger on the payroll — as part of Bulger’s alleged money laundering schemes.
Known as Bulger’s “money man,” O’Neil pleaded guilty in 2004 to being part of Bulger’s crew, and was sentenced to a year in prison in exchange for his cooperation. Today was the first time he has testified in a public proceeding about his association with Bulger.

During cross-examination, Bulger’s lawyer Hank Brennan suggested that Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi has made inconsistent statements about his longtime partner since the early 2000s. Brennan also said Flemmi agreed to cooperate with authorities only after he lost a challenge to his own racketeering case. Flemmi acknowledged that he sought better prison conditions once he began cooperating. When asked if he disliked being called a “rat” while in prison, Flemmi quipped, “I don’t think Mr. Bulger likes it, either.”

A lawyer for Bulger tried to paint Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi as a liar. Hank Brennan suggested that it was Flemmi who killed Debra Davis, a girlfriend who was leaving him for another man, as well as Deborah Hussey, the daughter of a longtime girlfriend, who had alleged that he molested her. Through his questioning, Brennan suggested Flemmi was an FBI informant, not Bulger, because he had ties to the Mafia and knew of the FBI culture of corruption.

Bulger’s former partner Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi described how he and Bulger killed numerous people, including Deborah Hussey, who was the daughter of Flemmi’s longtime girlfriend. Flemmi said he and Bulger were tipped off to a pending indictment in 1994, but Flemmi did not flee and was arrested while Bulger spent 16 years on the lam. Flemmi said he tried unsuccessfully to raise an immunity defense because he was cooperating with the FBI. He then agreed to cooperate with authorities.

Alleged victim

Deborah Hussey

Bulger is accused of killing Deborah Hussey, 26, of Milton, after she accused Flemmi of molesting her. Flemmi had allegedly molested Hussey beginning in her early teens, while he was dating and living with her mother, Marion Hussey. Deborah Hussey's remains were found in a makeshift grave across from Florian Hall in Dorchester. Bulger allegedly strangled her in January of 1985 after Flemmi lured her to a house on East Third Street by telling her he was thinking of purchasing it for her.

Day 25

July 19, 2013

Margaret Small/AP

Convicted murderer Stephen Flemmi described killings that he said James “Whitey” Bulger participated in.

Convicted murderer Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi testified that his former partner, notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, was involved in several murders, including the 1975 killing of bar owner Edward Connors in a phone booth on Morrissey Boulevard. Flemmi said he and Bulger shot Connors, who they believed was talking too much. Flemmi said Bulger told him he also killed Donald McGonagle, mistaking him for his brother Paul, member of a rival gang, in 1969. The Bulger gang also killed several other men, Flemmi testified.

For the first time in 18 years, Bulger and his former partner Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi came face to face. Flemmi later called Bulger an expletive, leading to a heated exchange. Flemmi testified that he and Bulger were informants who reported to their corrupt FBI handler, John J. Connolly Jr. Flemmi was arrested in 1995, when Bulger fled their racketeering indictment. He agreed to testify against Bulger in exchange for escaping a death sentence.

A gangster and longtime FBI informant who teamed up with Bulger in the 1970s while both were members of the Winter Hill Gang. Flemmi served as Bulger's front man, collecting money from bookies and inspiring fear in those who didn't pay their debts on time. He was one of Bulger’s closest associates and is expected to be the government’s key witness against his former friend. Flemmi pleaded guilty to participating in 10 murders with Bulger under a deal that spared him the death penalty but sent him to prison for life.

Day 23

July 17, 2013

Associated press

Also Wednesday, the daughter of Roger Wheeler (pictured) testified that her father was slain in 1981.

David Lindholm, a former marijuana dealer, said he was making tens of millions of dollars before Bulger extorted him at gunpoint, threatening to “cut my head off.” He said he paid Bulger $250,000 after that meeting. Donald DeFago, a retired US Customs Service agent, said that an informant he cultivated in 1984, Quincy fisherman John McIntyre, went missing soon after he began cooperating with authorities. Bulger allegedly killed McIntyre after he learned he was cooperating. Also Wednesday, the daughter of an Oklahoma businessman testified that her father was slain in 1981, as he was trying to sell his business, World Jai Alai. Bulger is accused of giving approval to his associate to kill Wheeler on behalf of a Boston businessman who had been skimming money from the company and was afraid of being caught.

Jurors heard from Michael Solimando, a Boston businessman who said Bulger threatened him with a gun and extorted $400,000 from him. Bulger said Solimando’s friend John Callahan had owed him money from an investment before he was killed. According to prior testimony, Bulger allegedly sanctioned the murder of Callahan. Robert Halloran, the brother Edward “Brian” Halloran, testified that his brother feared Bulger and began cooperating with the FBI before he was killed.

Alleged victim

Edward "Brian" Halloran

Halloran was a 41-year-old Bulger associate who had been cooperating with the FBI. He was getting a ride home from Michael Donahue after leaving a waterfront bar, when Bulger and an unidentified accomplice allegedly opened fire on the pair, killing both. Halloran had implicated Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, another FBI informant, in the 1981 slaying of a Roger Wheeler, a Tulsa businessman. Halloran was shot 22 times.

Alleged victim

Roger Wheeler

Wheeler, a Tulsa millionaire businessman, chairman of Telex Corp. and owner of World Jai Alai, was gunned down outside a Tulsa country club in 1981. The millionaire had suspected John Callahan, a Bulger associate, of skimming money from World Jai Alai.

Day 21

Jul 15, 2013

Brian Halloran had agreed to testify against Bulger, his partner, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and others in a bid to escape a murder charge in state court, but he soon became fearful.

Jurors heard from Richard Evans, retired chief medical examiner, who listed Bulger’s 19 alleged murder victims and the causes of their deaths. Patricia (Lytle) Carlson, John Martorano’s former girlfriend, testified that she received money from Bulger’s crew while Martorano was a fugitive. Former FBI agent Gerald Montanari testified that Edward “Brian” Halloran began cooperating with the FBI just before Bulger allegedly killed him. Bulger was allegedly tipped off that Halloran was an informant.

Relatives of two of Bulger’s alleged victims, Debra Davis and Michael Donahue, told of the last time they saw their loved ones. Patricia Donahue said it was unfair that others involved in FBI corruption that led to her husband’s death are out on the streets. Former drug dealers Anthony Attardo and Paul Moore said Bulger’s crew extorted money from them. Former bookie Kevin Hayes said he was forced to pay rent to Bulger’s crew.

Wife of Michael Donahue, a 32-year-old truck driver who Bulger allegedly killed on the South Boston waterfront on May 11, 1982. Donahue had agreed to drive Edward “Brian’’ Halloran, Bulger’s alleged target, from a waterfront bar to Dorchester. Both men were fatally shot as they exited the bar.

Brother of alleged victim

Steven Davis

Brother of Debra Davis, a onetime girlfriend of Flemmi who was allegedly murdered by Bulger on Sept. 17, 1981 at the age of 26. In 2009, Flemmi testified that he brought Davis to a vacant South Boston home he had purchased for his parents. Bulger, who was hiding in a bedroom, allegedly snuck up behind Davis, grabbed her by the throat and strangled her to death. Later, Flemmi testified, he and Bulger extracted Davis's teeth to make it more difficult to identify her remains, wrapped her body in plastic, dumped it in the trunk of a car and buried it in an unmarked grave along the Neponset River in Quincy.

Alleged extortion victim

Kevin Hayes

A reputed bookmaker who failed to pay tribute to the Bulger organization, Hayes was allegedly kidnapped by a group of men, including Bulger confidant Kevin Weeks, who threatened to kill him if he did not pay a substantial ransom.

Bulger associate and alleged extortion victim

Paul "Polecat" Moore

An alleged Bulger lieutenant and ringleader of a South Boston-based cocaine distribution network who pleaded guilty in 1990 to drug charges. Bulger, through associates including Kevin Weeks, demanded a share of the profits from the drug ring in the 1980s. Moore served nine years in a federal prison before he began to cooperate with the FBI and provide information about Bulger’s criminal enterprises.

Ann Marie Mires, who was with the state medical examiner’s office until 2009, told a federal jury Thursday that investigators recovered the remains of Debra Davis and Tommy King, two of James “Whitey” Bulger’s alleged victims, from the edges of the Neponset River in Quincy in 2000. Earlier Thursday, US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper denied a request by Bulger for a delay in his trial, which defense attorneys said was needed because the 83-year-old gangster is “exhausted’’ by the fast pace of the trial.

Day 18

July 10, 2013

Globe file

Police dug up human remains across from Florian Hall on Jan. 13, 2000.

Ann Marie Mires, who worked with the state medical examiner’s office until 2009, told jurors in "Whitey" Bulger’s racketeering trial that investigators recovered the remains of Arthur “Bucky” Barrett, Deborah Hussey and John McIntyre from a secret grave in Dorchester. Mires spent the morning describing how investigators approach a crime scene and a dig site. Also, she described the process in examining remains.

Day 17

July 9, 2013

Margaret Small

At the request of “Whitey” Bulger’s lawyers, prosecution witness Kevin Weeks was asked to describe how guns were used and handled.

Kevin Weeks, the onetime protégé of James “Whitey” Bulger got into a heated, profanity-laced exchange with the gangster from the witness stand as he was being grilled by Bulger’s attorney near the end of a dramatic day of testimony. Weeks had earlier told the jury that he led investigators to the graves of three of Bulger’s alleged victims in 2000, after he began cooperating with authorities.

Kevin Weeks, the loyal tough guy whom James “Whitey” Bulger groomed as his protege, described in vivid detail Monday morning in US District Court in Boston how he first assisted Bulger in a murder. Weeks began cooperating with investigators in early 2000 after his own racketeering indictment. After learning that Bulger was an FBI informant, he led investigators to secret graves containing the remains of some of Bulger’s alleged victims. He served five years in prison for being an accessory to five murders and wrote a book about his exploits with Bulger.

Profile

Kevin Weeks

During the 1980s, Weeks operated several of the Southie convenience stores and liquor marts that served as fronts for the Bulger organization. Weeks received "rent" payments from loan sharks and bookmakers, allegedly to insulate Bulger from the transactions, and also helped shake down local crooks and businessmen behind on their debts to the gang. Following Bulger's disappearance in 1995, Weeks acted as "operational chief" of the Bulger organization, taking orders from the fugitive gangster over the phone and delivering fake identification to him during clandestine meetings in Chicago and New York. After learning that Bulger and Flemmi had been FBI informants, Weeks led investigators to secret graves containing the remains of some of Bulger’s alleged victims. He served five years for being an accessory to five murders and wrote a book about his exploits with Bulger.

Day 15

July 2, 2013

US Attorney's Office

Transcript of a recorded conversation between James "Whitey" Bulger and his brother, John "Jackie" Bulger.

James “Whitey” Bulger could be heard imitating a machine gun sound today as prosecutors played tapes of his jailhouse conversations in the notorious gangster’s trial in federal court in Boston.
Bulger was talking about the 1975 murder of Edward Connors, whom Bulger and his right-hand man, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi allegedly shot while he stood in a phone booth on Morrissey Boulevard.
Speaking to his nephew and niece, the children of William M. Bulger, the former president of the Massachusetts Senate, James Bulger said in an Oct. 13, 2012 recording that he had been mentioned as a suspect in the murder. “The guy in the phone booth. ... [Imitation of machine gun sound.] ... Somebody threw my name in the mix.”

Disgraced former FBI agent John Morris grew emotional on the stand in the trial of James “Whitey” Bulger Monday as he looked at the family of Edward "Brian" Halloran, one of the gangster’s alleged murder victims, and apologized for what he has acknowledged could have been his “indirect” role in the killing.

Halloran was a 41-year-old Bulger associate who had been cooperating with the FBI. He was getting a ride home from Michael Donahue after leaving a waterfront bar, when Bulger and an unidentified accomplice allegedly opened fire on the pair, killing both. Halloran had implicated Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, another FBI informant, in the 1981 slaying of a Roger Wheeler, a Tulsa businessman. Halloran was shot 22 times.

Profile

Patricia Donahue

Wife of Michael Donahue, a 32-year-old truck driver who Bulger allegedly killed on the South Boston waterfront on May 11, 1982. Donahue had agreed to drive Edward “Brian’’ Halloran, Bulger’s alleged target, from a waterfront bar to Dorchester. Both men were fatally shot as they exited the bar.

Profile

Barry Halloran

Brother of Edward “Brian” Halloran, who Bulger allegedly shot to death outside a Boston bar on May 11, 1982. Brian Halloran, a Bulger associate who had been cooperating with the FBI, was allegedly put on Bulger’s hit list after Bulger learned that Halloran had implicated him and Flemmi in the murder of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler.

Day 13

June 28, 2013

US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

FBI report based on information allegedly provided by informant James "Whitey" Bulger.

Under questioning by Bulger’s defense, disgraced former FBI supervisor John Morris acknowledged that he took cash bribes and gifts from Bulger, and that his meetings with Bulger were often social in nature. Morris also acknowledged that he panicked when Stephen Flemmi, Bulger’s partner, was arrested in 1995, because he feared Flemmi would tell authorities about the bribes they gave to Morris. Bulger’s lawyers sought to show that Bulger was buying information from Morris, but that he did not provide information as an informant.

Jurors heard from John Morris, 67, a retired and disgraced FBI agent who was granted immunity for his testimony. Morris, who said he took $7,000 in cash and other gifts from Bulger, testified that the gangster was a prized informant. He also said that he grew concerned that Bulger’s handler, John J. Connolly Jr., had passed along information to Bulger that led to killings. Morris, Connolly’s supervisor, said he wanted to terminate Bulger as an informant but never did. At one point during Morris's testimony, Bulger angrily snarled "You’re a [expletive] liar," which prompted Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly to ask US District Judge Denise J. Casper to tell Bulger to “keep his little remarks to himself when the witness is testifying.”

A corrupt FBI supervisor who admitted to pocketing bribes from Bulger and Flemmi and leaking information to them in the 1980s. Morris never served a day in jail because he was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation. He had supervised the FBI’s organized crime squad in Boston, including John J. Connolly Jr., who was the FBI handler of Bulger and Flemmi. Morris, Connolly, and other agents wined and dined with the two gangster informants, and exchanged gifts with the pair while protecting them from prosecution.

A retired Miami police sergeant took the stand regarding the 1982 murder of John B. Callahan, to corroborate testimony that “Whitey” Bulger wanted to make it look like Callahan was killed by Cubans in a deal that had gone bad. Robert Yerton, a forensic lab technician from Oklahoma, also testified on the 1981 murder of Roger Wheeler.

Day 10

June 25, 2013

US Attorney's Office

James Marra, an agent from the Justice Department’s office of the inspector general, continued to introduce material from Bulger’s FBI informant file.

The widow of a man allegedly killed by “Whitey” Bulger in 1975 testified that Bulger told her that her husband had probably left town. Two other relatives of Bulger’s alleged victims also testified today: Joseph Leonard, Buddy Leonard’s brother; and Sandra Castucci, widow of Richard Castucci, owner of a lounge on Revere Beach Boulevard, who was killed in 1976.

Day 9

June 24, 2013

Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

Jackie Bulger, younger brother of James "Whitey" Bulger, left the courthouse Monday.

Even though his attorneys insist James “Whitey” Bulger was not an informant, a federal agent today provided details from the file of FBI Informant 1544 that showed Bulger gave authorities intelligence on South Boston crime figures and the Mafia, and tips in murders and other crimes that led to arrests.

Day 8

June 21, 2013

US Attorney's Office

The slaying of William O'Brien, 32, on Morrissey Boulevard in March 1973 came up during Friday's testimony of the "Whitey" Bulger trial.

Prosecutors brought more witnesses before the jury on the eighth day of testimony in the "Whitey" Bulger trial in an effort to show the human toll of the gangster’s alleged crimes. A son whose father was gunned down inside a Medford coffee shop, a woman whose husband suddenly vanished, and a professional gambler who survived a barrage of gunfire while riding in a car in 1973 all testified.

Day 7

June 20, 2013

Louis Lapiana was shot and paralyzed, allegedly by a cohort of James “Whitey” Bulger.

Diane Sussman de Tennen took the witness stand to describe surviving a barrage of gunfire, allegedly from a cohort of “Whitey” Bulger, while riding in a car in the North End in 1973. Confessed killer John Martorano testified earlier this week that he was the person who fired into the car carrying Sussman de Tennen after mistaking it for a car being driven by the killer’s real target. Sussman de Tennen was wounded, along with her then-boyfriend Louis Lapiana. The driver, Michael Milano, was killed.

Day 6

June 19, 2013

US ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Roger Wheeler had just climbed into this car outside a Tulsa country club when he was fatally shot by John Martorano in 1981.

Confessed killer John Martorano completed his testimony in the trial of his former ally, James "Whitey" Bulger. Martorano admitted earlier in the day that he cooperated with law enforcement to avoid the death penalty for murders he committed in Oklahoma and Florida, and he was questioned relentlessly by Bulger defense attorney Henry Brennan about the plea deal that sent him to prison for just 12 years.

In an intense and sometimes bizarre verbal battle with defense attorneys for James “Whitey” Bulger, ex-hit man John V. Martorano insisted he is “a nice guy’’ who should not be considered a serial killer, even though he has murdered 20 people. Martorano, testifying for a second day, is a key prosecution witness in the long-awaited racketeering and murder trial of Bulger in US District Court in Boston. His testimony, elicited under a plea agreement under which he served only 12 years in prison for his murders, is crucial to the case because he was part of the inner circle of Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang.

John Martorano showed no emotion Monday as he casually described shooting and stabbing people, sometimes the wrong ones, including a couple of teenagers huddled in a car during a blizzard, then cleaning up the blood and dumping bodies in the trunks of abandoned cars.

A hitman-turned-government witness who began cooperating with the government in 1998 after learning that his longtime associates and fellow Winter Hill Gang members, Flemmi and Bulger, were FBI informants.

Day 3

June 17, 2013

WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF

Richard O’Brien (right), left the US courthouse Friday after testifying in the racketeering trial against Bulger.

Two bookmakers from the 1970s and 1980s told ­jurors that they were forced to pay Bulger “rent” for continuing to run their gambling rackets in Greater Boston and that he had a reputation for handing out beatings and killing murdering those who did not ­follow his demands. James Katz, 72, was brought into the witness protection program when he first began cooperating with authorities in the 1990s. Richard O’Brien, 84, told jurors that Bulger had a reputation for murders and was “capable” of carrying out violence.

In the first full day of testimony, retired State Police colonel Thomas J. Foley, who headed the investigation into Bulger in the early 1990s, told jurors that the FBI sabotaged State Police efforts, forcing investigators to cut a deal with hit man John Martorano to expose Bulger’s relationship with the FBI. Retired State police detective Lieutenant Bob Long told jurors that someone impeded his investigation into Bulger in 1980. The defense team tried to use Foley’s testimony to argue that the FBI was so corrupt in its handling of the notorious South Boston gangster that its claim that he was an informant should not be believed.

After a jury was sworn in, the trial of James “Whitey” Bulger began with opening statements, as prosecutors portrayed Bulger as a killer who put fear into others, while secretly working as an FBI informant. His lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., acknowledged that Bulger committed crimes, but said Bulger was not an informant and that he never killed anyone.